Chapter 9: Questions and answers

Back at Orb, Kira, Lacus and Lunamaria took the kids back, while Athrun, Cagalli, Shinn, Yzak and Dearka went to see the prisoners.

"We should question the captain, but he's unconscious," Yzak told them. "And from the description that your son gave, we found the kidnapper."

They reached a cell, inside the cell sat a fat man with black goatee, his hands cuffed behind his back. The guards let Athrun and the others into the cell. "Alright Gutterhos. Do you know who am I?" Yzak asked.

"You are Yzak Jule, a total idiot who befriends Naturals like that blonde dirt beside that blue-haired pal of yours," he said, shaking his head towards Cagalli.

Athrun, Cagalli and Yzak looked as if there is nothing better to do in the world than to beat this guy into a pulp. Seeing his friends are angry, Dearka took over. "Look here, you are now a prisoner of ZAFT. So why don't you just cooperate and answer our question truthfully?"

"And if I don't what are you going to do? Kill me? My offence is not punishable by death, as stated by ZAFT's law. So, throw me into jail and lock me up forever. I am not telling anything," he said stubbornly.

"Oh, but kidnapping family members of Orb's high ranking personnel is punishable by death according to Orb's law. Do I have to remind you that one of the six that you kidnapped is my son?" Cagalli said.

Athrun and the others thought they heard wrongly. Since when does Orb have this law? Gutterhos, however, just laughed. "So, what's the big deal? I am to be tried by ZAFT, not by your silly neutral country."

"But Chairman Tana had spoken to me and just sent this through Commander Jule here," Cagalli said as she took out a piece of paper from her pocket. The four males looked at each other. What in the world is this girl talking about? Cagalli unfolded the paper, revealing the official logo of ZAFT and the signature of Valarie Tana. Before any of them can read the contents, Cagalli kept the paper.

"Do you know what that is?" Cagalli asked the prisoner in a menacing tone. "Let me tell you. Chairman Tana had kindly given Orb the permission to handle the kidnapper, which is you. From the paper you seen just now, she had clearly stated that she gives full power to Orb to put you to trial or to punish you. In other words, you are under Orb's mercy, not ZAFT's."

Seeing the slight scared look in the prisoner's eyes, Cagalli added, "This means, as I said about the crime of kidnapping people like my son in Orb, the gallows awaits you." Cagalli ended with a sly and wicked grin.

"The…the…ga…gallows?" It was very obvious that the fat man was terribly frightened by the prospect of being hanged. Athrun, Shinn, Yzak and Dearka now understand what Cagalli is up to, therefore they played along.

"Since you refused to give us any information, there's no reason to lighten your sentence," Shinn said, trying hard not to laugh at the frightened look on the fat prisoner's face.

"Hey Cagalli, need help with the platform? Yzak can check the platform floor while I can check the ropes. And Athrun can drag him to be hanged this very minute," Dearka said. Athrun moved forward, as if he meant to do what Dearka had said.

"Arggh! Alright! I'll tell you everything I know! Just don't hang me!" Gutterhos shouted.

'How ironic and pathetic. This guy who feared of being killed is supposed to be a part of a rebel fleet?' Yzak thought to himself.

"We're listening," Athrun said.

"The professor intended to destroy you people first, as you all are the best pilots there are. Then he will kill the Coordinators on Earth, those who are not on his side, that is. He thinks that without Coordinators to help, the Naturals on Earth will be helpless, thus giving him a clear path to slaughter the entire Natural population. To him, Earth Alliance is just a freshly laid egg that he can simply crush with his hands. After that, he will take out PLANT."

"Tell us where he is." Yzak commanded.

"I really don't know. None of us know where exactly he is. We just received his orders and do it," Gutterhos answered.

"Anything else?" Shinn asked.

"Yes. He found the remains of his brother and had revived him and turned him into a cyborg. And now, he found someone else to work on."

Athrun, Yzak and Dearka looked a little frightened by this, but each of them hid this feeling.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, that's everything I know. I won't be hanged now, would I?" He sounded hopeful.

Cagalli thought for a moment, and said, "I think I will let ZAFT decide your fate."

The five of them walked out of the prison complex. Once outside, Athrun asked, "What exactly is the paper that you shown just now?"

Cagalli smiled. "Oh this? It's just some letter I received from ZAFT two weeks ago." She took out the letter for the four to read.

Suddenly, Dearka thought of something. "Shinn, Cagalli, had you two heard of 'The Grim Reaper of ZAFT'?"

"Pardon?"

"You mean Gilsor Otstanayo, brother of the rebel leader?" Athrun asked.

"Who else?"

"You mean the guy who is now a cyborg, from what we heard just now?" Shinn asked.

"Yes, and believe me, he's extremely dangerous, from what we heard when Athrun, Yzak and I were still training at ZAFT," Dearka said.

"In what way?" Cagalli asked.

"He claimed that he killed more Naturals than anybody in the army." Yzak said.

"Put it this way: Pitch 100 ZAFT soldiers against 100 Earth Alliance (EA) soldiers, each of them armed with only a blade and a machine gun. If this guy was among the ZAFT soldiers, ZAFT will be victorious because he will single-handedly kill 40 of the Earth Alliance soldiers." Athrun said.

"And now he's back from the dead….." Dearka didn't complete his sentence. He, Athrun and Yzak doesn't even want to think about it.

"'Back from the dead', you say?" Shinn was puzzled by that phrase, and so was Cagalli. Dearka told them the story.

"Thanks to his bloodthirstiness, EA set a trap for him. During an intense battle, EA let out the news that 50 Natural civilians was hiding in an underground base nearby. Upon knowing this, Gilsor went to the base. When he got there he realized it was a trap. But it was too late. EA locked him in there, and blew up the place." Cagalli gave a little gasp.

"And remember what that fat guy had say? 'And now, he found someone else to work on.' Work on. Do you think he's making another madman cyborg?" Shinn pointed out.

"Who else could he make?" Yzak asked.

"I don't know, maybe……" Athrun lowered his voice. "My father, perhaps?"

None of them like the sound of that. Suddenly, a phone ringing distracted them. "Excuse me," Cagalli went aside to answer her phone call. A minute later, her expression changed. She immediately pulled Athrun into the car. "Sorry, but we have got to go. Personal problems," she told Shinn, Yzak and Dearka.

As they drove back, Athrun asked anxiously, "What is it? Something happened to Athura?"

"No, not about him. You remember the jerk I nearly get married with?" Cagalli asked. Athrun's face turned a little sour, remembering that stupid man who nearly got his wife.

"Yeah. He got himself half killed, due to getting crush by a falling mobile suit. I am still amazed that he can survive,"

"Then he was sent to another country for treatment, and I thought we had seen the last of him," Cagalli said.

"Err, didn't we?" Athrun asked.

"No. And he decided to return tomorrow." Cagalli sighed.

"I beg your pardon?" Athrun wished he had heard wrongly.

Cagalli glared at him. "Athrun, don't make me repeat this again. Yuuna…Roma…Seiran…that stupid, good-for-nothing, crazy idiot …is…coming…back…to…Orb!